Carol, a woman in my watercolor class, mentioned in class last week about making prints from styrofoam. GENIUS. It’s not nearly as painstaking (or dangerous) as linoleum block prints. It stuck with me, and a woman in my church asked me if I had any ideas for a school class activity for a Halloween party, well here you go, Wendy. Hope this works out!!

Styrofoam Printing

In a nutshell, here’s what you need:

Pencil

Styrofoam plates

Scissors

Bone folder or tongue depressor

Brayer

Printing ink (any color)

Paper (not pictured)

Newsprint (to manage the mess)

Cut the bottom of the plate out. I chose a circle, it’s easy. You can cut any shape you want.

Draw on the surface of the Styrofoam with a pencil. After you’re done with outlines you can depress large spaces (these spaces will end up white) with a bonefolder or tongue depressor.

Squirt ink on a “throw away” sheet of paper to get your brayer evenly coated with ink. Roll ink over the surface of your print. Be sure not to press too hard or you’ll ink up your white spaces.

Apply the paper face down onto your “plate”. With the palm of your hand or side of your fist, rub the back side of the paper to transfer the ink. Remove the paper.